BP executive killed in plane crash

A BP executive helping to guide recovery from the Gulf of Mexico spill died with two others when a light aircraft crashed in waters off the Florida Panhandle, the oil giant said.

BP spokeswoman Hejdi Feick said 58-year-old James Black was among the dead.

Mr Black was the director of operations for BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation, the business unit put together for recovery from April’s Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and massive oil spill.

Investigators also said a former Texas solicitor general, 47-year-old Gregory Coleman and his 63-year-old mother-in-law Charlene Black Miller, also died in the Piper Malibu crash on Tuesday night in waters near Destin’s airport.